Livestrong Foundation charts post-Armstrong course

Livestrong Foundation CEO and president Doug Ulman says the organization founded by Lance Armstrong will persevere in the wake of the cyclists admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

Associated Press file photo

CHICAGO  Leaders of the cancer charity founded by Lance Armstrong said Thursday that the organization will persevere in the wake of the cyclists admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

I am on safe ground to say that the past year did not go as planned, Livestrongs executive vice president Andy Miller said at The Livestrong Foundations annual meeting in Chicago  its first such gathering since Armstrongs troubled departure. Things happen that we cannot control  cancer has taught us that. What do we do? We adapt.

He added later, The Livestrong Foundation is not going anywhere.

Livestrongs president, Doug Ulman, echoed that sentiment in prepared remarks for the more than 500 participants.

Our success has never been based on one person, said Ulman, who was unable to deliver the speech in person because of travel delays. Will the Livestrong Foundation survive? Yes. Absolutely, yes. Hell, yes.

Armstrong stepped down as chairman of the charity in October, saying he didnt want his association to damage the foundations ability to raise money and continue its advocacy programs on behalf of people with cancer.

Among the steps the organization is taking to establish a new identity is to change its day of action each year from Oct. 2  the date in 1996 that Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer  to May 17, the group announced Thursday.

On that day in 2004, the charity launched their trademark yellow Livestrong bands. Since then, 87 million have been sold, Katherine McLane, the groups executive vice president for communications, said.

The foundation is charting its own course without the founder since its inception, she said in an interview. Its a challenge. It might be a rocky road in 2013. But we are thinking in terms of the next five years.

There has been no indication, she said, that donors are distancing themselves from the charity as a result of Armstrongs fall from grace. The $48 million that Livestrong raised in 2012 was down 2 or 3 percent from 2011 but consistent with slight drop-offs other foundations saw in a still-struggling economy, she said.

The cyclist created the organization  originally called the Lance Armstrong Foundation  in Austin, Texas, in 1997 while he was being treated for testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs. Doctors gave him 50-50 odds of surviving.

Armstrong won seven Tour de France titles  all of which have been stripped. He has also been given a lifetime ban from sports.

Throughout his career, Armstrong always denied drug use, but earlier this year, he admitted during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs.

He told Winfrey that leaving Livestrong was the most humbling experience after the revelations about his drug use broke.

I wouldnt at all say forced out, told to leave, he told Winfrey about Livestrong. I was aware of the pressure. But it hurt like hell.

That was the lowest, Armstrong said. The lowest.

Armstrongs personal fortune had sustained a big hit days before the interview as one by one, his sponsors called to end their associations: Nike, Trek Bicycles, Giro, Anheuser-Busch.

That was a $75 million day, Armstrong said.

That just went out of your life, Winfrey said.

Gone, he replied.

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Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm.

Livestrong Foundation charts post-Armstrong course

Livestrong Foundation CEO and president Doug Ulman says the organization founded by Lance Armstrong will persevere in the wake of the cyclists admission that he used performance-enhancing drugs.